LOS ANGELES — Playboy.com has reported a 258 percent jump in global unique visitors to its site between Jan. 2014 and Jan. 2015 thanks to SFW content that’s appealing to a wider millennial audience, according to an AdWeek report.
The website now boasts 21.5 million unique visitors — up from just 5.5 million in July 2014. Its video views went from 50,000 to 6 million views from July to Dec. 2014.
Playboy is also enjoying massive social media growth, now reaching 29.6 million users across its social platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Tumblr. The report said Playboy's Instagram alone has 1.7 million followers, with a total of 2.1 million engagements. Shareablee ranked it 15th out of the top 25 social U.S. brands of 2014.
And despite some early naysayers that believed only nudity and sex could drive the ailing brand, the online success is instead being attributed to bringing its editorial in-house and focusing on writing about core men's lifestyle material including nightlife, style and humor— that it said is key to the Internet culture of 2015.
A pro-feminist “catcalling” flowchart feature last summer also lit up the Internet helping Playboy’s broader appeal.
"Playboy as a brand is one of the few brands built for the Internet," Cory Jones, Playboy senior vice president of digital content and digital media told AdWeek. "It's one of the few brands that can have permission to talk about anything."
The up tick is also helping to buoy the website’s goal to attract more advertisers. And more women are responding to its event marketing, especially regarding clothing and lingerie.
Playboy chief revenue officer Matt Mastrangelo said the site’s ads have bumped up between 65 and 75 percent and requests are growing four-fold over last year.
"The brand will always be a destination for young men as they come of age," Mastrangelo said. "But, at its core it's about fun. We want every single person that engages with our brand to know it's about fun."